A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall
by SomeoneElsesShoes
Summary: It's 2029 and the Halliwells have suffered the loss of another sister.Lots of little stories mixed into the main plot and deceased character still features.Filling in the lives of the Charmed Ones after the end of the show-plenty of drama,fluff,comedy etc
1. Part I

**So this story takes place in 2029, but with lots of flash backs to earlier years. It's basically about the whole family and lots of different stuff. **

**PS- don't think I've forgotten about A Strange Kinda Time Loop if you read that, my mind just wandered to other places during in the summer, but there'll be an update soon.**

**Enjoy and please review even if you hate it lol! xoxox**

**A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall:**

If a city were a piece of music, that cool morning of the 27th of January 2029, would have been the gentle, but ever more increasing humming of the base line: the soft introduction that anticipated the imminent crescendo; telling the world that San Francisco was waking up to another day. The sun rose lazily in the sky, casting a yawning pink tinge over the chilled grey horizon and the dark, angular silhouettes of the city's financial district faded gradually from solid outlines to lenient, more detailed structures, their electric bulbs snapping off one by one as light flooded their rooms, bouncing off glass window panes and glistening in the cool morning air.

Far below the shimmering rooftops, a solitary figure sat alone in a deserted bus station. Hunched over and bundled up against the cold, the body remained motionless. Only the hollow rhythm of breathing causing a small rise and fall beneath the layers of dark clothing, and empty, unseeing eyes gazed dully outwards, barely blinking. If another human had chanced to skulk by, they would have seen that the girl's mind was detached from her body, floating off in some other world, a dreamlike, nightmarish world, dogged with the weight of tragedy. Any stranger would have thought that girl was an empty, absent shell of a person. But, had she been observed by anyone who knew her, they would recognise that the distant eyes were only making room for something else: in the privacy of her own mind, the girl was indeed existing in a world of her own, a world created with the building blocks of subtle vibrations, invisible sounds, a world swamped with musical notes and snippet phrases of lyrics that illustrated her thoughts and reminded her bitterly of the childhood she had lost and the life that no longer belonged to her. The music filled the empty void of her body with the sounds that had been stripped from her ears forever, precious compositions that could never be rekindled. As her thoughts vibrated through her body, their increasing intensity welled up and a single tear slipped from her eye and slid silently down her cheek.

Now resenting her lack of self control and tendency to give public displays of emotion, the girl reached up, disgusted with herself, and slapped the droplet from her cheek. But she didn't have time to dwell on her loss of composure because her ears tuned into the rattling of approaching metal and the hum of an engine. Getting heavily to her feet, she picked up the two bulky items lying on the ground, swinging her oversized backpack onto her shoulder and clutching her precious guitar case in her hand, the girl stepped forward to be greeted by the hissing of doors. She heaved herself upwards onto the craft that would carry her away from the place that she thought she could never call home again.

Somewhere on the other side of the city, Piper Halliwell stirred in her bed. Her head lolled, but her eyes remained shut, resisting for a moment the state of consciousness that compelled her from her sleep and into the stale day that awaited her. Not wanting to linger too long in one place, for fear that her unoccupied mind might dwell on thoughts she's rather shut away, she lifted the covers from her body and padded across the bedroom floor to her wardrobe. Dressing quickly she made her way to the door, trying in a vain attempt, to avoid catching a glimpse of herself in her dressing table mirror. Unfortunately, her eyes caught the eyes of her reflection and stopped her dead in her tracks.

Gazing at herself in the glass, she saw a gracious, elegant woman of fifty-six, her long hair, now a silvery grey, formed a protective blanket around a face engraved with deep wrinkles that mapped out her emotional journey through life. She studied her features for a moment, absorbing each tiny detail in way she had never done before.

But as her eyes moved across the surface of the glass, they were distracted by a photograph tucked into the wooden frame. Sighing deeply, she reached out and plucked it from its home. Her chest tightened as her eyes rested on the three people depicted in it, although she knew that picture by heart, confronting it in reality was beyond any pain she could anticipate. It was a picture taken some thirty years ago, when she herself had been twenty seven and expecting her first child. She sat between her two younger sisters, her stomach bulging, all three were smiling broadly, their faces radiating joy. It sliced Piper's heart to know that she would never feel that pure, uninhibited joy ever again. Too much had been ripped away from her.

She stared for a moment longer at the image, studying each of her sister's in turn. First, Phoebe: her dark, fashionable hairstyle framed her sleek features, and a warm and honest, but wonderfully subtle smile flittered across her sophisticated face. Then herself, the broad grin and sparkling eyes, reminded her of the burst of laughter that she had let out at the very moment that the shutter was pressed. And finally, Paige: childlike joy, rosy cheeks, honey golden hair and rich brown eyes brought so much life to her baby sister's face that for a moment she seemed animated and Piper was convinced she saw her sister give a cheeky wink in her direction. But, of course, she knew this was not true, and never would be again, because Paige, like her treasured elder sister Prue, lay stiff and cold in a dingy hole in the ground, the warmth and vitality extinguished from her body forever.

Heaving one last sigh, Piper dropped the photo onto the polished wooden surface of the dresser and headed down the stairs to the silent kitchen, to do the only thing she felt she knew how- make breakfast for the extended family that would soon be descending on her, their rock. After Paige's death, no-one had felt much like cooking, except Piper to whom it was a blissful escapism, so at every meal time, her sister, nieces, nephew and two brothers in law, as well as her own husband and children, would gather together in true Halliwell solidarity to consume a sombre meal that, despite Piper's exceptional culinary skill, tasted like sawdust to every person.

She glanced at the clock, 8am, Phoebe would be here by half past. She thought about what her sister would be doing now: dressing, drinking coffee, reading her email, nagging her husband to feed the cat and her youngest daughter to tidy her bedroom, day to day activities that filled her waking hours, carried out with a numbness that Piper knew all too well. As she rhythmically beat eggs into a mixing bowl, Piper's mind wandered to the rest of her family, scattered across the city, confined in small apartments or rattling around in a now practically uninhabited family home, all undoubtedly feeling the same as she did. Her thoughts rested on her widower brother in law and his three bereaved children, a son, Henry Jr and two twin daughters, Erin and Olivia, Paige's beloved family. A subconscious smile flittered across her face as she remembered the moment Paige had discovered she would be a mom for the first time:

_In true Paige style, she wasn't at the hospital because she was showing any of the normal symptoms of pregnancy, no, Paige was at the hospital because she had super glued Wyatt's model 747 to her hand and no amount of whitelighter healing would fix it. But it wasn't until Paige started having an allergic reaction to the glue, that she gave in to Piper's lecture and accepted a ride to the ER department. _

_So, perched on the edge of the doctor's table, Paige had politely answered the routine questions thrown at her by the nurse: 'Was she on any medication?" _

"_No."_

"_Was she, as far as she was aware, allergic to any drugs?" _

"_No." _

"_Could you be pregnant Ms Matthews." _

"_Eeer, don't think so" Paige paused now that it was mentioned, she couldn't remember if she'd had a period the previous month... or the month before that. Piper saw her bite her lip._

"_Paige?"_

"_You don't sound very sure Ms Matthews, just to be on the safe side, we'll do a test, the drugs we want to administer could be dangerous to a foetus, so we'll just check you out shall we?" Piper had sat, holding Paige's hand (the hand without the jet plane attached to it) as the nurse wheeled in a sonogram machine. She had shared her baby sister's joy as sound of a tiny heartbeat flooded into the room and had kissed her forehead as the nurse announced that Paige was nine weeks along and due in September. And bang on time, six months later, Paige had given birth to a healthy little boy. Piper laughed at that, Henry Jr was far from a small child, weighing in at 9lbs 2oz at birth, he was an enormous baby, and now at twenty two, it was clear that he had started as he meant to go on. _

Piper was brought out of her daydream by the very same Henry appearing in front of her, swaddled in blue lights. "Hey Aunt Piper."

"Somebody's ears were burning," she murmured.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about you- when you were a baby." She looked up, meeting her nephew's eye. It took a lot of courage for Piper to look at Paige's children now, as much as she loved them, they were a painful reminder of the sister she had lost. Henry's resemblance to his mother was uncanny, although he had inherited his father's height and broad, muscular figure, his complexion, eyes and rich chocolate hair were undoubtedly Paige's. "You know, I've never seen anybody so happy as your Mom on the day you were born." She reached over the counter and gripped Henry's hand. Her nephew tensed and released his eyes from his aunt's gaze.

"Yeah, well..." he muttered, "she deserved to be that happy, it's not like she got much chance to celebrate when the twins were born."

Piper forced a smile. "Trust Erin to cause a drama from the word _Go_."

_Like their older brother, the twins had been due in September. But on a warm summer evening in mid August, Piper had received a frantic phone call from Henry telling her that he was in hospital with Paige who had gone into premature labour and could she please come and pick up Henry Jr. Piper remembered vividly the wavering terror in Henry's voice and the panic it had instilled in the entire family. _

_Piper's car screeched to a halt in the hospital parking lot, slamming the door, she raced through the entrance signposted with the directions Henry had given her. The slap of her flat shoes on the sterile hospital floor echoed through the eerily quiet corridor. As she grew closer to Paige's room a wailing met her ears, growing louder as she grew closer, on opening the door she was met by Henry, desperately trying to sooth a hysterical two year old and calm his frantic wife. Henry Jr's face was screwed up in a raw, red bundle, he hiccupped and spluttered uncontrollably as piercing wails radiated from his child sized lungs, causing his chest to rise and fall in bumpy gulping movements. Piper took the child from his father and nestled his sweat drenched head on her shoulder, she gently stroked her nephew's back, trailing her hand up and down his spine, all the while cooing softly in his burning red ear. But the boy could not calm himself, he had clearly tuned into the tension and fear, not to mention the agony his mother was in. As Paige's latest contraction subsided she managed to let out a small stuttering whisper: "sing to him Piper, he loves the sound of singing." _

_So Piper began to sing, stilted, desperate notes, rattled awkwardly from her lips, the words to every childlike song she could think of. "...Hush little baby, don't say a word, Auntie's gonna buy you a... ring, a ring of roses, a pocket full of poses, a tissue a tissue we all fall... down came the rain and washed the spider..." _

"_No- he doesn't like songs like that, pass him to me." _

"_But Paige you can't-" _

"_I'll be fine Piper," she said, heaving herself up to a firmer sitting position. So Piper placed her nephew in his mother's lap and Paige rocked him gently back and fourth, all the while humming a soft melody into his ear. And miraculously, the child quietened, his hiccupping subsided and his body, exhausted from all the crying, became limp, his head lolling against his mother's chest, Piper watched as his eye- lids grew heavy and within ten minutes Henry had drifted off to sleep. Paige smiled and gestured to her sister to take the sleeping child from her. "He doesn't like any of that nursery school garbage; my child has taste, try a little bit of Bob Dylan next time eh?" She winked and Piper chuckled, but the moment was short lived as Paige was gripped by another paralysing contraction. Piper took this as her cue to exit, kissing her baby sister on the forehead and whispering that she loved her, then hugging Henry and telling him to call as soon as he could, she left the hospital and returned to the Manor where she, Phoebe, Leo and Coop waited anxiously. _

_Five hours later, they had received a phone call that caused their blood to freeze. Paige had given birth to two little girls, four weeks premature. The first, Olivia was healthy, weighing 7lbs, she was being kept in mainly as routine, considering her early birth. The second, Erin was tiny, only 4lbs and small enough to rest in Henry's cupped hands. During her delivery, she had got the chord tangled around her neck and the doctors were unsure of how long she had been starved of oxygen. Both Paige and Erin would be retained in the hospital for some time. Erin would be incubated and kept under close surveillance. Henry's voice trembled as he told Piper the news, Erin's recovery was not optimistic and the doctors where unsure of the consequences of the oxygen deprivation. _

_For the next five weeks, Paige never left her daughter's side, she was wheeled into the special unit every morning and sat by the little box, her hand reaching through the small hole and resting on the tiny, pink hand of her daughter. Once, Piper had walked in, to find her sister with her face pressed against the plastic so that her breath made a soft white cloud against the hard surface. As Piper approached she heard the murmur of Paige's husky voice. "Paige?"_

"_Sssh- look Piper, she likes it." Piper placed a hand on Paige's shoulder as she continued to whisper through the transparent barrier. _

"_Then take me disappearing' through the smoke rings of my mind,  
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,  
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,  
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.  
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,  
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,  
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,  
Let me forget about today until tomorrow."_

"_You're just determined to force that singer on all your children aren't you?" smiled Piper. _

_Paige shrugged, "she likes it. Olivia hasn't taken to it though, she prefers songs from the musicals. 'I Dreamed a Dream' it her favourite."_

"You tell these stories like it was yesterday Aunt Piper. How do you remember it all so clearly?"

"You learn to hold onto the memories, one day they'll be all you have left."

"They _are_ all I have left."

"I'm sorry Henry, I didn't mean-"

"Its fine Aunt Piper, we're all in the same boat here... Those pancakes smell delicious! The others are missing out. Where are they all?"

In another far flung corner of San Francisco, Olivia was combing her long chestnut hair. She was back in her old bedroom, in the house she had grown up in. It looked the same as it always had, only slightly barer, stripped of it's 'lived in' feel after two years without an occupant: the bookshelves were close to empty and there were fewer keepsakes and clutter, but her old 'Gone with Wind' poster still hung above her single bed and her battered rag doll, Cecily (named after the character in her favourite childhood play, The Importance of Being Earnest) still sat tidily on the little arm chair. Sitting on her freshly made bed and gazing out of the window, Olivia continued to run the brush through her silky hair. Being well presented had always been important to her. She had never been obsessed with layers of make up and being dressed up to the nines for a trip to the supermarket, but she had always taken care of her appearance. It made her feel in control if everything was pristine and organised. This was just one of the many traits that set her apart so distinctly from her twin.

Erin was everything Olivia wasn't. At least, that was how Olivia saw it. She never stopped to think that she might be everything Erin wasn't as well. Erin was a colourful, bold and temperamental character who seemed to make an impression on everybody all the time. She seemed to have all the distinct characteristics that Olivia thought she lacked, and everybody called her a combination of her aunts Prue and Phoebe. Erin, thought Olivia resentfully, was 'the special one,' she was unique, and from the day they were born, it was Erin who had demanded all the attention. Olivia, being the quiet, easygoing and reliable one had learnt to fade into the background and let her sister take centre stage.

The contrast between the twins was so vast that it had taken kids at their junior high two whole semesters to figure out that the two were infact related. The girls didn't even look alike. Erin was small and elflike, with dark hair and deep brown eyes, Olivia was taller, slender, but she wasn't small like her sister, she was 5'7" in height and her shoulders were broader, she didn't have dark hair like the rest of her family, instead, her hair was a pale brown and her eyes were a piercing blue, "a recessive gene", her mother had once stated. If it weren't for the ivory skin that she alone seemed to have inherited from Paige, Olivia would be able to find no resemblance to her family at all.

This had caused her some secret identity crises at times, struggling to find her place in her bubbly, vivacious family. But of course, she never let anyone see this: Olivia was the master of bottling her emotions and smiling her way through life. This, she had concluded was quite possibly the reason her parents seemed to devote nearly all their time to Erin, trusting Olivia to get on with life without any real need for parental interference. So why was it that she was the only sibling to care enough about her dad to move back home after her mother's death?

Getting up from her seat, she made her way out of her room and headed towards the stairs. As she did so, she passed Erin's bedroom, glancing in, she rolled her eyes- even in her 14 month absence from the house, Erin still managed to wreak havoc and make her presence known. Olivia continued on, resisting the urge to spite her sister by trespassing in her bedroom and folding her clothes into neat, colour coded piles.

Instead, she found herself in her family living room. It was a spacious room, painted white and with stripped floor boards covered by a large rug. A black leather couch (her father's choice) stood in the centre of the room, but it was covered in artistic looking cushions in rich shades on turquoise and purple (her mother's compromise on the macho couch.) There were other hints of Paige in the room, two of her paintings hung on the wall, motionless photographs stood, suspended in time in quirkily coloured picture frames and the pot plant that her mother had nurtured to a redwood as her own way of quenching her empty nest syndrome, still caused a challenging obstacle to entering the room.

The whole room felt like Paige, but in the far corner stood the starkest reminder: the battered old piano, scattered with pieces of sheet music that Paige had been intending to play, cast a heavy shadow on the otherwise cheerful room. Normally, it hurt Olivia to look at it, her mom had loved that piano, and she had loved it too. They were the only two in the family who could play and they would often sit for hours, playing duets and singing along to songs they both loved.

Olivia ran her fingers along the length of the yellowing keys. The notes splashed out into the silent room, cutting through the stillness, it made her skin tingle- the sound of all those flats played one after the other was such a haunting, empty sound.

The piano hadn't been played in over six months, not since Paige became too tired to go downstairs. But there was still a book of sheet music on the stand, Olivia glanced at it- Les Miserables, and the book was open on her favourite song- I Dreamed a Dream, the song her mother would sing to her as a baby. Feeling drawn by some unknown magnetic field, she perched herself elegantly on the edge of the Piano stool, her fingers pressed lightly on the keys and she began to press down on the notes, forcing life back into the fossilised instrument. As she regained her confidence, her fingers began to dance across the keys and with the passion reinstalled within her, words began to spill out of her mouth, singing along in a powerful and perfectly tuneful voice. She savoured each word as, with each line, she was transported back into the world she loved. As her mind became absorbed by the music, Olivia could have sworn she felt a light brushing of the palm of her hand.

"_No- listen, you're playing to too fast, you need to hold that there for a moment. And keep the pedal on for that phrase there!" _

"_Mom, this is too hard." _

"_No it's not, you can do it, just keep trying, and you'll get there eventually. Do you want me to sing along with you, to help you keep in time?" _

"_Yes please!" Olivia loved to duet with her mom. She was thirteen and for the past seven years, her mother had been teaching her to play the piano and all the songs that she had sung with her as a little girl. They now sat down and played together as well as singing. Their voices sailed through the house, sliding into every nook and cranny until Erin or Henry Jr would appear at the top of the stairs, complaining of the 'racket' and 'why couldn't they at least play some real music?' But today, both her siblings were out with friends and her dad was working, Olivia and Paige had the house to themselves and they were taking full advantage. _

_Paige nudged her daughter's hip, urging her to make room on the piano stool. She sat down and tucked a strand of Olivia's hair behind her ear. "Come on, let's rock this bitch!"_

"_MOM!" _

"_What?" Paige laughed, "I used to be cool once you know. Don't look at me like that, I wasn't always forty five you know! Stop giggling! At one time I wasn't unlike Erin."_

"_Really?" _

"_Oh yeah!"_

"_Bet you weren't as stroppy though."_

"_Wanna put money on that?" Paige winked and Olivia giggled. "Right missy- get exercising those fingers. Another twenty minutes and then we'll dig out the rest of Aunt Piper's casserole for lunch. Sound like a deal?" _

"_Only if you throw in ice cream as well." _

_And so for the rest of the day, and almost every Sunday after that, Olivia and her mother had enjoyed a few happy hours together at the Piano._

"That was really beautiful honey, your mom would've been proud." Olivia whirled around, Henry was leaning on the doorframe.

"Dad. How long have you been stood there?" She pulled herself up from the stool and crossed the room to wrap her arms around her father.

"Long enough... it's so nice to hear some music back in this house, it's too quite these days."

"You used to complain non stop about the racket we all used to make."

"Yeah... well... let's call it a case of Stockholm syndrome shall we." He gave a hollow laugh but his daughter noticed the pained frown that darted across the deep furrows of his forehead. She looked up into her Henry's eyes, they were still the same as they had always been but now they were outlined with crows feet, the tell tale sign of his years. His hair too was now grey and he had grown a short, stubbly beard in the same shade. Olivia reached up and ran her smooth palm across his stubbly chin, he wrapped his strong arms around her and squeezed her tight.

"Come on," she said, "I'll orb us over to the Manor, Aunt Piper's blueberry pancakes will do us the world of good!" And the pair vanished, leaving the house still and silent once more.


	2. Part II

"Has anyone seen Erin this morning?" Phoebe's voice cut through the solemn silence that hung over the breakfast table. "Olivia?"

"No idea!" she shrugged and then added under her breath "makes a nice change anyway." Phoebe narrowed her eyes, but didn't press the issue.

"Henry?"

"No... I hardly see anything of my kids anymore..." he smiled weakly and ruffled his son's hair.

"Dad!" came Henry Jnr's protest as he jabbed his father playfully in the ribs. "I'm not ten!" They both chuckled and Piper's heart fluttered as saw a glimmer of the old family atmosphere seep back into their lives. But her joy was short lived as the scraping of a chair on tiles hit their ears and Mel, Piper's daughter rose from her seat, dumped her plate in the sink and headed for the door.

"And where do you think you're going young lady?"

"Mom- I'm 23, a little too old for you to take that tone don't you think... if you must know, I'm orbing over to Erin's to see if she wants to hang out today... seeing as she's not here, I'm guessing she could do with a shoulder or something."

"She's just attention seeking- ignore her or she'll never grow out of it" Muttered Olivia. She resented every inch of Erin's amateur dramatics and she resented even more the fact that Mel so willingly pandered to it. It must have something to do with the fact that Erin had spent up to three night's a week, for the duration of her teenage years, sleeping on her cousin's bedroom floor because she '_couldn't stand being around you people any longer!_' How Mel hadn't got sick of her she didn't know, infact, Mel seemed to have a special bond with her younger cousin and was usually the one who coaxed her around to coming home after a row. And unlike Paige and Henry, who were continually grateful to Mel, Olivia often wished that she wasn't so successful.

"I'll go with!" offered Cassie, Pheobe's eldest daughter who was only six months older than the twins and the spitting image of her mother. Cassie was beautiful. She possessed delicate features, a finely defined nose, large hazel brown eyes and cascading chestnut hair; she dressed in bright, summery colours and her ever present smile radiated warmth and kindness. Today she wore in a simple orange tank top and blue jeans with string or turquoise beads hanging around her neck, but as she joined her cousin at the sink, the light caught her face and caused her honey coloured skin to sparkle like a mermaid's might.

"Don't you have a class to get to?"

"It's Saturday." And the two cousins joined hands and vanished in the usual swirl of blue light.

"What about you boys?" Piper asked her sons a nephew.

"Well... we thought we'd head to the park, seeing as non of us have work we thought we could get it a mini game of football then hit the book of shadows after lunch and bust some lower level demonic ass!" replied Wyatt.

"And you were gonna leave me out?" Cleo, Phoebe's middle daughter spoke up. She was 18, just out of high school and on her way to college, full of vitality and a total tomboy! Cleo loved nothing better than racing around a sports field or wrestling with her cousins. She had been the only one of all the Charmed Ones children to take kickboxing lessons from Phoebe and her life long ambition, if it weren't for a duties as a witch, was to play professional basketball. She was the most competent demon battler of all nine cousins and, even if she did tend to take the head on, _why bother with a battle plan and potions when a high kick will do? _Approach to fighting, she usually came out on top. Bull in a china shop was Henry's pet name for his niece and this did indeed suit Cleo perfectly, heavy handed was her way and despite her mother's attempts, she could never charm grace and elegance into her daughter.

"Actually Cleo, we were hoping to survive this one with all our teeth still in tact- for such a small person, you hit pretty hard" teased Chris.

"Shut up!"

"OW"

"See – weakling."

"I think you broke my arm!"

"Meh, deal with it!"

"Mom!"

"Chris- you're 25, you're on your own honey!"

"You'll pay for that!" he grinned, but Cleo had already vanished in a pink cupid's glow and all her cousins could do was orb out in hot pursuit, their egos once again slightly bruised.

Olivia and the youngest Halliwell, Phoebe's third daughter Cara, were now the only people still sat at the table. Cara's eyes lifted up from behind the book she was reading and she flashed a tiny smile at her cousin. Cara was sixteen and never spoke unless absolutely necessary, instead she could most likely be found with her head buried in a novel. She was a shy girl and all her life had sat placidly in the corner of the room whilst the antics of the rest of the Halliwells swam, or rampaged, around her. If her mother or aunts didn't know better, they would think that Cara was completely oblivious to the day to day drama that was part and parcel of being a Halliwell. But Phoebe once, whilst attempting to de-clutter her daughter's notoriously jumbled bedroom, had discovered a thick, leather bound note pad amongst on of the piles of books and, against her better judgement had proceeded to flick through the pages of what turned out to be Cara's diary. Only, unlike she had expected, the book wasn't filled with personal troubles and emotion, but instead with hilariously witty retellings of events featuring her family. Again, unable to control herself, Phoebe had passed some extracts onto her sisters who agreed, whilst crippled with laughter, that their youngest niece was indeed a talented writer, with an unnervingly sarcastic tone for such an amicable seeming person. Of course secrets never kept too long in the Halliwell family and eventually, Phoebe's betrayal got back to her daughter. But to Phoebe's surprise and relief, Care merely turned beetroot red, and whispered that _"she didn't mind people reading what she had written as long as no-one got upset and they didn't tease her about it."_ Then, after her mother and aunts swore blind that they would never make fun, went quietly back to reading The Hobbit.

"What you reading today Car?" asked Olivia. Cara tilted the book to her cousin's eye-line.

"A Gathering Light. Never heard of it. Any good?" Cara nodded.

"What's it about?" This was the one and only question that would get more than a one line response, and Cara launched into a careful explanation of the themes, plot, and subtext of the book.

Piper turned her head from the sink and smiled. It was nice to see her family engaging in light hearted conversation and relieving to know that they now at least had the time to read, or paint, or play sport if they wanted to. Since the Ultimate Battle, the Charmed ones really had been demon light and rarely had to go up against any upper level demons, there was plenty of time to have 'normal lives' which, after all was what Piper had longed for all along. But normality came at a price, and they'd paid it. Though it was nice to see that eventually they were beginning to recover and return to something resembling a happy family. Of course Paige's absence would haunt them forever, but things were getting back on track, it was a comforting thought to know she didn't have to worry quite so much about everybody, Henry and his children especially.

Even Erin seemed to have settled down, despite failing to grace them with her presence at breakfast, Piper was sure she was finally recovering from the death of her mother and the dark spot that had followed. Erin always came around eventually, she was just harder work than the other eight, "_Always a fan of the amateur dramatics that one"_ was what Leo had chuckled in her ear each time Piper had brought their niece to stay the night with them after frantic calls from Paige, telling her that Erin had stormed off and was wandering the streets at midnight, refusing to come home. No, Erin would be fine, Piper always had faith that her head was screwed on at least tightly enough to know that she could always come to her in a crisis.

Her nieces' chatter broke her chain of thought. "Do you want to come to the beach with me today Car?" offered Olivia. "I'm gonna take my sketching pencils, you could get on with some writing?" Cara nodded, Olivia grinned and Phoebe and Piper smiled at one another from opposite sides of the kitchen. Then Piper turned to Henry.

"How you holding up?"

Henry sighed. "I miss her Pipe. Everyday she's not here it just, it kills me you know. I still come downstairs every morning and expect her to be bustling about with that damn pot plant or at the piano... and that painting she never finished, I left it on the easel- I still think that one day I'll walk into the kitchen and it'll be complete. It was gonna be the best painting she'd ever done you know- that's what she kept saying. Decided where to hang it and everything ..." his voice trailed off as he remembered how passionately Paige had talked about capturing the early morning sky, and how she had planned for months, the perfect time of year to get up at dawn just to paint it, and was waiting until for that time when a doctors appointment had revealed some devastating news and she was thrown into a year of hospital appointments, surgery and nasty, draining doses of chemo that eventually failed.

The bitter irony was that just had Paige had given up on the horrible treatment and painfully decided to let nature take it's course and spend what time she had left with her family, the year had rolled around and the sky was back to the wonderful tones Paige has envisaged painting. Of course she started her project and was determined to finish, but time wasn't on her side and the painting was never completed.


	3. Part III

**Well it's been a very long while but i'm back with an update: **

Erin stepped into the bright sunshine and breathed a sigh of relief: the bus had been sweltering hot and the outside air was wonderfully refreshing. She took in her new surroundings with a rekindled sense of joy and then snorted a small chuckle, wondering how anybody could possibly find solace in a dusty roadside diner, battered looking gas station and a few dehydrated shrubs. But it was a universe away from San Francisco and that was all she wanted. No more magic, no more demons, no more family fussing over her, suffocating her. What use was all that if it couldn't save her mother: no amount of magical spells or potions could help Paige, no amount of bed-side nursing from Piper and Phoebe could cure her. And to Erin, the bitter irony of her mother's death was that she hadn't perished suddenly at the hands of a fire throwing, vengeful demon. That, Erin felt, would have at least been a death worthy of a Charmed One, but what had actually happened was that Paige had suffered from a long drawn out illness that had attacked her more viscously than any demon ever could. Cancer, thought Erin, was the most powerful force of evil that could ever exist... and it wasn't even demonic.

But it didn't matter anymore, Erin had finally escaped. And there was nothing Olivia could do about it... the masking potion had seen to that. Man she hated the whole witch/whitelighter/twin telepathy thing that she and her sister had been 'blessed' with- so invasive! Their mother had thought it was cute – more fool her! The only uses either of the twins had found for their extra 'power' was to hurl silent insults at one another for hours after they had been banished to their bedrooms to cool off from yet another sisterly spat or, for malicious sabotage of one another's social lives by using the special feature of a telepathic global tracking device to let their parents know that the other one (usually Erin) wasn't at the movies like they claimed they were but instead had orbed to Tahiti with a handsome young, but still far too old for her, whitelighter. _Well in your face Olivia! You can't ruin this one for me... you and Aunt Piper and everybody else can just back off now and let me get on with my life the way I always wanted it to be! _Screw family- they never understood her and the only one she cared about was dead!

_* * *_

The day dragged on. The football game in the park came to an end and the exhausted participants made their way ravenously back to the Manor in search of lunch, Olivia and Cara, both absorbed in their work, sat companionably on the beach blissfully oblivious to the encroaching afternoon.

Cassie and Mel, after taking a brief detour shopping, arrived outside Erin's dorm room. Mel knocked gently and the two waited patiently for an answer. Nothing. "Erin?" Cassie called through the door. "I bet you $10 she's still in bed."

"She's not totally reclusive you know."

"Cass- it's Saturday, you know Erin as well as I do, she's probably laid up in bed with a hangover."

"Why is it always us two pouring the tomato juice?" sighed Cassie. "Here we go again- she's wasting her life Mel and she's only nineteen." Mel shrugged then began pounding on the door.

"Erin Matthews! Open this door! Open it! OPEN IT!"

"Erin if you don't open this door now... ERIN!"

"Fine! Be like that! We can do it the hard way." Mel darted her eyes up and down the corridor to check it was empty then blew the door open with a single flick of her hands. The door swung open on an empty room.

"Well I guess we should have more faith in our young cousin" muttered Cassie.

"Guess so. Look at this mess! She really is disgusting." It was true. Plates, Cups and moulding pieces of toast, punctuated with out of date copies of music magazines and underwear littered the floor; the duvet trailed half off the bed it's corner soaking up a puddle of spilt tea and the stench of stale tobacco hung in the air.

"Charming. At least it looks like she finally decided to do some laundry." Cassie gestured towards the open, empty wardrobe.

"She's taken her guitar."

"And..?"

"Who takes their guitar to the laundrette?"

"Erin, clearly. Come on, let's go." Mel bit her lip, but followed her cousin back down the corridor. It was always a battle of wills with Erin and even when Mel was only battling with herself, it was still a huge dilemma.

* * *

"What do you mean she wasn't there?"

"Mom, relax- Erin's a big girl, and it's perfectly acceptable for her to spend a day...or two... or three on own. If she was eight you might be able to justify worrying, but Erin's nineteen! Stop smothering her mom."

"OH you're right. I just... I can't help but worry."

* * *

How long do you wait before you call someone 'missing?' The police say 24 hours, Piper Halliwell would say about 24 minutes. Even though the rest of the family didn't really seem to care that much that they hadn't seen or heard from Erin in over three weeks, she did. Sure, it wasn't the first time Erin had done a disappearing act and everyone else was adopting the usual tactic of "_don't pander to it_, laid down firmly by Paige and Henry when Erin was no more than half a year old, but Piper's intuition told her that this time it was something to get worried about. If it had been any of the others her first thought would have been a demonic kidnapping but it had been years since that had been a real threat and besides... it was Erin.

Erin seemed to be the one who had taken Paige's death the hardest. The one who just could not let go. Of course they were all still grieving but they were moving on as best they could. Erin wasn't and Piper knew it was more than just because of her love of melodrama and attention, this was real grief, real devastation. Piper understood why:

_Paige and Erin... Erin and Paige. Mother and daughter were chalk and cheese and two peas in a pod all in one go- fiery, independent, opinionated. Paige had so much of her own teenage self in her daughter that it had terrified her, she loved Erin fiercely, but because she had spent the first weeks of her daughter's life in terror that she might lose her, Paige had tried too hard to protect Erin so the wilful teenager had rebelled and Paige, growing increasingly desperate, had become harsher and angrier towards her daughter. Erin had clung to Paige too- every drunken night and broken plate and set of hysterical tears had been a cry to her mother to love her more. But, because, Piper had observed, both mother and daughter were too pig headed to look at the situation objectively; they could only feel like each hated the other and the vicious cycle kept spinning. When Paige had been wrenched away, Erin's whole existence had become meaningless. Especially since, from the moment Paige uttered the word 'cancer' to her family and right up until the night after the funeral, Erin had found it within herself to be the model, doting daughter. All her life, from the moment of conception even, Erin's energy and life had been vented into Paige and suddenly there was just an empty space and a nineteen year old who had been stripped of everything. Everything except that wretched guitar... _

_Music and the Halliwells weren't very well acquainted until Paige bounded into their lives. Of course all the sisters kept up to date with the charts (and of course Piper had to, if she wanted to run a successful night club), had their favourite groups and went to gigs if the demons left them alone long enough. But Piper was always more interesting in food, Phoebe in books and movies and Prue in her photography, music was just background noise. _

_Paige loved music: she played piano, guitar, harmonica, and even the ocarina and listened to everything from musicals to Mozart, Led Zeppelin to the Dixie Chicks and beyond, but more than anything, her baby sister had loved Bob Dylan. She always told Piper it was simply because the lyrics inspired her to paint (art was Paige's other passion) but when Piper had discovered Paige sobbing in a puddle of paint, a shattered picture frame and a half completed canvas and the sound of A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall filling her bedroom and had coaxed out of her that she couldn't seem to get her father's head right on the portrait she wanted to paint, Paige revealed that it was her Dad's love of Dylan and the fact that he had been playing on the radio the morning before the fatal car crash that was the root of Paige's love. A love that she had tried so hard to pass onto her own children and, for the most part, succeeded. Especially with Erin. Paige and Erin communicated through their shared devotion and so Erin's guitar and, which her mother had bought her and taught her to play, was the only thing that came close to a substitute for a parent. Just like Piper used magic to connect with her lost past... Erin used her guitar and seeing as magic was ebbing its way out of the Halliwells lives, piper thought it was a fair substitute. _

Sighing to herself, she dumped her long cold coffee in the sink and called Leo- he'd help her find her niece even if no one else cared enough.


	4. Part IV

It had been 3 and a half weeks since she left San Francisco and Erin didn't think she was doing too badly. She'd found a place to live, a crummy little motel room that she'd rented out for then next two months until she got properly sorted, but it was still a bed and a bathroom and she was in the process of making her it her own. She really wished she hadn't left all her posters back home, but on her second day at the motel she'd ventured into town and found a second hand record store with a whole collection of cheap posters. Not only had she got hold of plenty of tattered decoration for her room, she had secured a three day a week job there- bliss! Well that took care of Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday... now she needed to find somewhere for Monday, Tuesday and Friday. In the mean time though, she had her savings and the prospect of wages from the new job so she could afford a little time to... get acquainted with the dusty little town she had decided to make her fresh start. A fresh start in more ways than one.

On the very long bus ride out of San Francisco, then another two long bus rides through places she had given up trying to identify, Erin had nearly a day to think about her life and come to the conclusion that perhaps she should do what everyone wanted and tone down the drinking, the late nights and maybe lay of the weed a little bit. Afterall, it was what her mother had been begging her to do since she was fourteen and she could at least pay Paige's memory the respect it deserved by calming down. Not quiting mind, she'd stubbornly insisted to herself, just reducing. It wasn't like any of her cousins had the right to look down their noses at her really, none of them were that perfect and hadn't it been Mel, Cassie and Wyatt who had been her accomplishes on the day she tried to magic up a cannabis plant using a potion recipe she'd found at the bottom of an old trunk and signed and dated 1955, property of Penny Halliwell? But considering she's just packed in college, it would probably be a good idea to be on the ball at work.

And if this new Erin was really going to shine through, she'd better start unpacking! Heaving a bag that was already spewing clothes onto the dull blue carpet, Erin launched herself into her fresh start.

4 hours later she stood back to admire her handy work. The sickly green bathroom tiles shone admirably and the pale Ikea wardrobe containing neat piles of her clothes had been scrubbed to an almost as good as new standard. Erin had taken down the curtains and let the evening sunlight cast an warm glow across the white walls, the said curtains had been washed in the bath (revealing themselves to be quite a cheerful shade of red) and were now hanging, dripping from a clothes horse in bathroom, waiting to be recycled as a throw to cover up the nasty, floral upholstery on the small sagging couch. The reproduction watercolours of English hedgerows had been taken down and pinned in their place were Erin's prized finds- the four posters. _Not bad at all, _she murmured, glancing over at the clock. Only then did she notice that it was 6pm, her stomach gave a small rumble- she hadn't eaten since breakfast and that had been a disappointment. Reaching for her small black backpack, she headed out of the room and into town to search for something to eat and perhaps a taste of the nightlife of this strange new place.

* * *

Night fell on San Francisco, unnoticed by Piper and Leo, huddled in the Attic of the Manor, pouring over the Book of Shadows and arguing about why Erin had failed to respond to the _call a lost witch spell_ or show up on the scrying map.

"Oh Erin, where are you?" muttered Piper. If they couldn't find Erin then something must be really wrong. Of course her niece had run away in the past but she like to be found because she liked the drama, Piper knew that, and she knew that Erin was of course entitled to take a trip away if she wanted, but something didn't seem to fit. Firstly, Erin clearly planned to be gone a while, having emptied her dorm room of all her valuable possessions, normally she took nothing more that her guitar and a jacket, expecting to be found and home later that night. Secondly, if Erin had decided just to take a trip then surely she would have told someone, but none of her friends or family had heard anything. So Piper thought she was, at this point, absolutely entitled to be sick with worry.

"Well I think we have to rule out demons in this case" offered Leo. "She had time to pack and that's just not demonic."

"No, this is definitely an... '_Erin_' thing. Only serious..." Piper gave up scrying and flopped down helplessly onto the couch. "Why didn't she try talking to us? We all lost Paige, we all can help her deal with it. She's been so... _good,_ up to now. Bottled it all up inside, and that's just not Erin. I'm her aunt and I know what it's like to lose a mother- she could have come to me. I can't believe I've let her down like this Leo. And why am I even bothering to find her? She clearly doesn't want her family anymore. Not even Henry! I can't believe she'd abandon him like that!"

"Piper! You've not let anyone down. You've been this family's rock. Erin's just...well lets face it Piper, our niece, for all her good points, is incredibly self centred and wilful. I think that this is more inevitable than your giving it credit for. But I do think you're right in looking for her, regardless of her opinions about her family, she does need us. And Henry, he needs her home SO much right now."

"OH Henry!" cried Piper. "He's crumbling away Leo." She was right. Her poor brother in law was barely making it through the days and his body looked like such a fragile exterior, Piper couldn't help but wonder how long it would be until the thread holding his exhausted body up would snap. And Leo was right! Erin was being incredibly selfish ad she was going to drag her back here if... she was interrupted by swirling blue lights as Leo orbed out, returning seconds later with a sleepy looking Olivia and an irritated Henry Jnr.

* * *

Taking in the green chalk board writing offering '_beer, food and music' _Erin decided that this little bar was right up her street and pushed the heavy wooden door open. Being underage was of absolutely no concern to her, she was very used to talking barmen around and by now, her stomach was rumbling quite a lot and the prospect of a greasy plate of fries and the alluring strumming of a single electric guitar were too much to resist.

Inside, she found a small table crammed into a corner and slid a single sided menu card out of the little plastic holder wedged between a ketchup bottle and salt and pepper dispensers. A waitress, dressed in black pants, a t-shirt with the bar's name embroidered in red onto the left breast and a tiny navy apron tied around her minute waist glided over and placed a beer mat and set of cutlery wrapped in a white paper napkin down next to her. "What can I get you?"

"A beer and some fries please" replied Erin, confidently looking into the girl's face and smiling broadly. The girl raised her eyebrow uncertainly, but nodded.

"I'll bring it over."

"Thanks." Erin settled down in her seat, rummaged in her bag for her little sketchbook and pencil (both twins had inherited Paige's artistic flare) and began to doodle absentmindedly on an empty page. As she drew, her eyes darted around the cramped little business, not much different from some of her favourite bars back home- small, friendly, but slightly shabby with peeling paint and worn red leather on the twenty or so seats jumbled into half of the room. In the other half was a short bar, painted black with an array of brightly colour liquors and a neon, bottle shaped sign advertising a brand of larger Erin had never heard of lining the back wall. Next to the bar was a tiny dance floor and beyond that in the corner directly opposite Erin, was a small platform on which a lone guitarist was strumming aged old chords to a song hailing his long lost love. His angst fell on deaf ears though because Erin, the waitress and a grey haired man at the bar, clutching a glass of whisky, were the only three inhabitants.

"Here's you are." The waitress pushed a large plate in front of Erin. "Hey, that's pretty good!" she was looking down at Erin's sketchbook. Only now did Erin take in what she had drawn- the Manor. She gave a weak smile and slammed the book shut in disgust, she was meant to be forgetting the Halliwells, not sketching the damn Manor!

"Is that somewhere you know?"

"Yeah, it's... home." Erin found herself replying. Suddenly, all she wanted to talk about was San Francisco.

"And where might that be? You don't get building like that around here."

The reply was barely audible. "San Francisco."

"San Francisco. Well, cool. I've never been, always wanted to though." Erin didn't reply. "If you want anything else just holler." And with that the girl went back to wiping unused tables. Erin took a swig of beer and picked up a fry and before she new it, she was thinking about her mother again.

_Paige hated cooking. Of course she did it because she had to (Henry was also as far removed from a chef as it was possible to be, opting for cold beans out of the tin over turning on the stove) so if she could twist her big sisters arm, and most of the time she could, Paige sent everyone Piper's for dinner. Failing that, she would poach the Manor freezer for soups, lasagnes and casseroles that Piper had been saving but would mean Paige could go for at least four days only having to use the microwave. But sometimes, Paige found herself having to dig out a cook book and the drama that followed when she either forgot to put the lid on the blender, sliced her finger open with a knife or left something in the oven until the kitchen was thick with smoke, was inevitable. _

_On this particular occasion, their dad was working nights and Henry Jr was at a birthday sleepover, so only Paige and the twins, aged seven, were at home. After over boiling potatoes until they dissolved and even managing to burn frozen pizza to a crisp, Paige shrieked with frustration, threw a spatula across the kitchen and yelled to her daughters to get in the car- they were going to Aunt Phoebe's. _

_Only half way there, the car started spluttering and jerked to a halt, smoke pouring from the engine, just as Paige managed to pull it over in a side road. "Get Out!! Out! Out! Get Out!" she shouted, wrenching open the back door and clicking the seatbelt release buttons. Erin and Olivia clambered out into the freezing cold night, shivering, they watched their mother heave open the car bonnet, slam it down again, and swing a Jimmy Chooed shoe at the pale green body work then shower the night air with obscenities as her heal cracked against the cold metal. "Why do I bother driving? Orb, always bloody orb!" she muttered through gritted teeth and then suddenly erupted into floods of tears. Erin and Olivia watched anxiously, scared, neither of them had ever seen any adult, never mind their mom, cry before._

"_Mom?" ventured Erin, as Olivia put her arms around Paige's waist._

"_Oh girls, I'm sorry, silly Mommy..." _

"_Silly Mommy," echoed Olivia, planting a kiss on her mother's arm. Paige started crying again._

"_I am, I'm a horrible, useless Mommy, I can't cook, I can't do anything and I'm crying in front of my two beautiful girls who I don't deserve." _

"_Silly Mommy," added Erin, taking Paige's free hand and squeezing it. "We love you"_

"_Love you" repeated Olivia._

_Paige squatted down to meet her daughters' level. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "Oh goodness me! You two must be starving" she darted her eyes around the street and noticed a diner two doors down. "Come-on, lets go get foooooood!" They abandoned the car and headed for the warmth of the diner. "Two Cokes, a cappuccino and the biggest plate of fries you have please!" Paige told the waiter as he filled up their water glasses._

"_Mommy, you never let us have fries!"_

"_Or Coke!" _

"_Well it's a special treat for my two lovely girls isn't it!" And by the time they had dug into their food, Paige was smiling broadly again and both Erin and Olivia were giggling as she tickled them under the table. _

_When they got home that night, Paige had insisted the girls spent the night in her and Henry's big double bed and the three of them snuggled down together, whispering stories to each other under the duvet and playing special secret games until they drifted off to sleep. _

_But Erin had woken up when she rolled over, stretching out her arm for her mother, only to find a warm empty space on the mattress, with Olivia sleeping peacefully three feet away. Creeping out of the bedroom and onto the landing, Erin heard her mother's voice from the bathroom. Tiptoeing to the closed door, she peered through the key hole and saw Paige, curled up in her pyjamas on the tiled floor, the portable telephone pressed to her ear, sobbing uncontrollably. _

_Listening for a moment, Erin caught snippets of conversation. It seemed that Paige was talking to Phoebe. Phrases wafted into the child's ears, she didn't understand them, but she'd never forgotten them: _

"_Back in town" _

"_Divorced" _

"_Just a kiss... one night..." _

"_Break Henry's heart..." _

_What she's heard had stuck in her mind for twelve years and gradually, as she got older, she'd made more sense of what she had heard. And the name that her mother had stammered had been stewing in her thought ever since...Glen. _

The guitarist finished his set, put down his instrument and headed off stage and towards the washroom. Erin decided she could with another beer and picked her way across to room to the bar. She hoisted herself onto a bar stool and waited patiently for the waitress to finish choosing a track from the bar's ipod before asking for her drink. The man with the whisky glanced up as she spoke. His eyes rested on Erin's face and he blinked somewhat surprised before realising he had been staring too long. Shaking his head as if to dismiss something, he returned to gazing into the amber liquid he was consuming.

The track changed and Erin's ears pricked up as she recognised the gentle strumming of _Girl from the North Country Blues_ echoing out of the aged speakers above her head. The man too seemed to recognise the track, his face lifted and Erin, who was now watching him quite intently, thought she saw a lonely, nostalgic smile flicker across his worn looking face. The man noticed her gazing and winked "I doubt a young lady like yourself has any idea who this is singing" he chuckled.

"Actually," replied Erin smugly, "It's Bob Dylan."

The man looked somewhat taken a back. "Now how does a girl as young as yourself know that, you must be at least seventy years too young!"

"Well you must be at least thirty years too young" she retaliated. The man chuckled. "He was my Mom's favourite singer." She added.

"Was?"

"She died." The words came quietly

"Oh, I'm sorry." His looked suddenly uncomfortable, but instead of shrinking back to his drink, the man continued to stare.

Erin frowned "What? Have I got something on my face or something?"

"No, no, I'm sorry. It's just, well you look just like someone I used to know. For a minute there I thought you were her, but of course, Paige would be in her fifties by now... you just took me right back to my," he lowered his voice, "_teenage_ years" and winked.

"Paige?" breathed Erin softly. Her stomach turned five somersaults, but she managed to keep her cool. "Who was Paige?" somehow, she felt like she already knew.

The man chuckled again "Oh no, I wont bore you with the woes of an old man, you got back you drink and enjoy yourself, I expect your meeting some friends soon and it wont do your image much good to be sat here chatting to a decrepit drunken stranger."

"I'm new here, I don't have any friends, and besides, your not drunk- you've been swirling that same glass around for over half an hour."

"Cheeky one aren't you? You've got spirit!" he laughed again... "Paige had spirit too- that's exactly what she would have said."

It was getting too much for Erin to bear, but then she told herself, there were hundreds of Paige's in America- millions even and some of them probably had 'spirit' and looked a bit like her, surely he couldn't be talking about her Paige, her mother?

"What's your name?" asked the man.

"E...Erin."

"Well Erin my dear, listen to me when I tell you, never walk away from someone you love... never. Else you'll end up a lonely old man like me."

Erin swallowed. "So was... Paige... was she your wife?"

"No... I wish she was my wife, the most stupid thing I ever did was marry somebody else and walk away from my girl. No, Paige was... well she was my best friend and... I guess she was my girlfriend. But I made a stupid mistake and by the time I woke up, it was too late, she was married, she had three children and...."

"Are you Glen?" She couldn't contain herself any longer.

The man was so shocked he shattered his glass in his white knuckle grip. "That's my name... how did you..."

"Are you talking about a woman called Paige Mathews?"

"Oh my god!" he whispered. No wonder he recognised that face, the girl sat in front of him was, it had to be, one of Paige's children... the three children she had with that other man, that Henry. _The three children that could have been his if only he'd woken up from his self delusion and left his gold digging wife sooner_.

"You knew my mom! You knew her when she was a kid! You're Glen! You're the one who..." then Erin remembered, "You're the one who nearly broke up my mom and dad."

"No, Erin, no, it wasn't like that... really it wasn't, it was one night and I didn't even know she was married or even about you or anything until afterwards, as soon as I found out, I walked away. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, but I left you all in peace. I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, but breaking up a family isn't one of them."

Erin had to let it go, she couldn't get into a fight with a complete stranger now and besides, Glen knew her mom before she was a Halliwell, he was the key to a whole part of Paige that she thought had been lost.

"Let me buy you a drink" he offered, and you can tell me all about your mom and what she's up to these days..."

"I told you, my mom died." Her heart stabbed painfully now and the devastated expression on Glen's face only added to the hurt.

"H...h...how? When?"

"Cancer. Three months ago," was her hollow response.

"Oh..." Glen looked so pained; it even managed to break Erin's heart, reminding her of the moment she had to accept her mother had slipped away. But Glen gritted his teeth and fought back his tears. "Well how about that drink, I expect there's lots of thing's you'd like to know about your mother when she was your age..." And the pair retreated to Erin's table to talk fragilely about a person they both believed the world should never have been deprived of.


End file.
